China: The Imperial Era Though China was nominally ruled by the Zhou kings for centuries, in reality, from 711 BC to 221 BC, a period of nearly 500 years, China was divided between rival kingdoms ruled by various warlords. Though this period saw the birth of many important aspects of Chinese culture, such as philosophy, literature, and scientific discoveries, it was also a very difficult time, as China struggled with disunity and constant fighting. The rise of the Qin Dynasty, in 221 BC, united China for the first time in centuries and began the imperial era of Chinese history. From this period, rulers of China called themselves Huangdi—emperors—and ruled a much expanded and more centralized Chinese state. The Qin Dynasty hardly outlasted its first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, but the imperial system created by the Qin dynasty established the form in which China would be ruled for the next two millennia. The Qin Dynasty was followed by the Han Dynasty, which continued many of the Qin policies, while modifying some of the harsher aspects of the previous dynasty with Confucian ideals of government. Built on such an imperial model, the Han Dynasty ruled China for over four hundred years. When the Han Dynasty collapsed in 220 AD, no one was powerful enough to reunify China under a single emperor. The result was the era of the Three Kingdoms. These three kingdoms (Wei, Shu, and Wu) battled for control in a long series of wars. This was one of the bloodiest periods of Chinese history, but it also has long been romanticized and remembered as a time of chivalry and honor. China was briefly reunified by the Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420 AD, but early in the fourth century, nomadic tribes overwhelmed the northern borders. In 311 AD, the capital, Luoyang, was captured by the invaders, and little more than a hundred years later the dynasty was no more. China was once again divided into a patchwork of independent kingdoms. It would take more than a century for another dynasty to reunite China under imperial rule, but by that time China had passed from the ancient to the medieval era.
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